Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: Lauren Gibb of St. Edmond records a block as Eagle Grove’s Kennedy Thacker tries to convert on Monday in the Gael gym. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

The St. Edmond volleyball squad wasted little time asserting itself against Eagle Grove on Monday night.

Playing at home for the first time this month, Gaels (7-2 overall) built early leads all evening long to knock off Eagle Grove (2-11) in straight sets.

St. Edmond won 25-12, 25-16 and 25-19 for their second consecutive victory.

“Our goal was to put the foot on the pedal and get comfortable,” said SEHS head coach Heather Seeden. “We stayed loose and our body language was good.

“My time to coach is in practice, so I let them compose themselves and just reassured them during the match as they found solutions.”

The Gaels never trailed in the match. This is the program’s 18th straight victory against Eagle Grove, dating back to 2007. St. Edmond has won 49 of 50 sets during that stretch.

In the opening set, St. Edmond took a commanding 6-2 lead and went up 19-9 with five straight points.

Junior Mariah Myers had five kills and senior Lauren Gibb had four in the first set.

“Mariah was swinging well. She and Lauren had some big kills in the first set,” Seeden said. “We played well and were able to fight through a couple of runs they put together on us.”

Ava Andrew got St. Edmond off to a hot start in the second game, serving the Gaels’ first seven points and recording three aces during that period. St. Edmond was out in front 11-3, before the Eagles went on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 12-10 and later were down 17-15.

St. Edmond slammed the door behind five straight serves from Sasha Hess — including two aces — and three kills from Myers to make it 23-15.

“Sasha did a great job covering ground and keeping the ball in play,” Seeden said. “Sasha and Ava are great servers. We take risks with them at times and challenge them to hit the spots we ask.”

Myers had another five kills in the second set alone, and Ava Underberg recorded three. The Gaels had six aces from the service line as well.

In the third, St. Edmond went up 15-5 and appeared to be ready to sweep. The Eagles had three mini-runs to trim the deficit to five at 20-15, then got to 24-19 before the Gaels closed it out.

Myers had six kills in the third game and Underberg had three. Hess tallied three aces from the service line.

For the match, Myers finished with 16 kills. Underberg and Lauren Gibb both contributed seven.

Hess added aces, Andrew had four and Gibb two. St. Edmond finished with 12 service aces as a team.

The Gaels are back in action on Thursday when they head back into North Central Conference play against Clarion-Goldfield at home. St. Edmond is 2-1 in league play.